Fozzie Bear Through the Years
From Muppet Wiki
The Evolution of Fozzie Bear (1976-present)
| Image | As seen in | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| | The Muppet Show Season 1 | 1976 | The original Fozzie puppet was designed by Faz Fazakas. This version of the puppet has a mechanism that allows his ears to wiggle. |
| | Early publicity for the The Muppet Show | 1976-1977 | Fozzie's lower jaw has more stuffing, giving the puppet a slightly larger and flatter looking jaw than in his previous appearance. |
| | The Muppet Show Season 2 | 1977 | Fozzie has a more orange hue to his fur. For the first seven episodes of the second season, a Fozzie puppet that very much resembled the later Fozzie has a mechanism allowing its eyebrows to raise. Unfortunately, this effect is barely noticeable, especially when Fozzie is wearing his hat. Thus, another change was prompted to remove the cumbersome and unnecessary mechanism from inside Fozzie's head. |
| The Muppet Show Season 3 | 1977-1978 | For the rest of the second season and most of the third season, another Fozzie puppet is used, without the eyebrow mechanism. |
| | The Muppet Movie | 1978-1983 | This is arguably the version of Fozzie most familiar to the viewing audience. His fur is a little more brown than orange, and his eyebrows are smaller. This is how Fozzie appears in The Muppet Show from the end of the third season through the end of the series, plus The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and John Denver and the Muppets: Rocky Mountain Holiday. |
| | Rowlf's Rhapsodies with the Muppets | 1984-late 80s | Fozzie's fur is a little more brown than the previous version and his head is a tad more cone shaped. This version is used in The Muppets Take Manhattan, and A Muppet Family Christmas. |
| | The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson | late 1980s-1991 | This Fozzie's fur is a shade more orange and his features are more rounded than the previous version. The mouth also appears to be shaped slightly different and his eyes are placed very slightly more apart. This version is used in The Jim Henson Hour, Muppet*Vision 3D, Here Come the Muppets, and The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson. |
| | Muppet Treasure Island | 1992-1996 | This is the wig-wearing Fozzie. During this time, the Muppets produced several storybook adaptations, and in each one -- Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Classic Theater, and Muppet Treasure Island -- Fozzie played character roles sporting a big, puffy wig. His features also seem to be somewhat flatter than the previous version. |
| | Muppets From Space | 1996-2003 | The head on this Fozzie (seen in Muppets Tonight and Muppets from Space), is distinctly more pear-shaped than the previous version; that is, the jaw is significantly larger than the top of the head. A "poser" version of this puppet (that is, a photo puppet), inexplicably wears a blue bandana - though Fozzie has never worn this in any production. |
| | It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie | 2002 | The puppet, with a more spherical head, is similar to the 1984 version, but with slightly shorter fur (especially on the face). Additionally, Fozzie's eyebrows and eye focus have been slightly adjusted. |
| | The Muppets' Wizard of Oz | 2005 | Fozzie has a taller, more cone-shaped head than the previous version. His face is rounder, and more like the 1980s version. |

